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Thursday, 9 April 2020

Read 2020 - 38 - For Those Who Dream Monsters by Anna Taborska

She stood in the mist and at the bottom of the old woman's field

looking at me with eyes of death and sorrow.

For Those Who Dream Monsters, a collection of stories by Anna Taborska, is wonderfully illustrated by Reggie Oliver, who also provides the introduction to the collection. There's fantastic cover art by Steve Upham, This copy of For Those Who Dream Monsters is signed by all three to my Bestwick.

The collection opens with the brutal Schrodinger's Human. A blood-thirsty tale of an unusual serial killer. If you didn't already mistrust cats, you will by the end of the story.

In the much lauded Little Pig a prospective fiancee meets his girlfriend's grandmother at the airport, but this story heads back in time to a place of wolves and hunger and sacrifice. Cut! is a humorous account of a psychopath on a film set.

There's A Tale of Two Sisters, which is a fairy tale in two parts.The ghostly and desperately sad The Girl in the Blue Coat. Underbelly hurt. A reluctant deal to take away the pain of cancer. A story of how, extreme pain and suffering can change who you are fundamentally.

Taborska's knives are sharp and she doesn't flinch when making the deepest cuts. A devastatingly brutal collection.